Rated R Superstar repeats in Governor's Cup

Rated R Superstar won the $175,000 Governor’s Cup for the second year in a row Friday night when the 9-year-old came barreling down the center of the track to catch pacesetter Flash of Mischief. He won by 1 1/2 lengths over that one, while it was 2 1/2 lengths back in third to Catdaddy.

The Governor’s Cup was the opening-night feature at Remington. It’s the meet’s top race for older horses.

Rated R Superstar ($9) was winning his third stakes of the year, behind the Fifth Season and Essex at Oaklawn. He was content to let the pace go, settling in sixth along the rail as Flash of Mischief led the charge through fractions of 24.25 seconds for the opening quarter, 48.87 for the half-mile, and 1:13.10 for six furlongs.

Rated R Superstar began to pick up pace into the final turn, was angled to the outside, and came into the stretch four wide. The horse continued his momentum through the lane and covered the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:51.20.

“He broke perfect, and I was sitting kind of close,” winning rider David Cabrera said in an interview broadcast by Remington. “He was like ‘Let’s go, man!’ The pace was pretty slow.

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“Once we came to the quarter pole, he was ready for it. He gave me all he had.”

Federico Villafranco trains Rated R Superstar for Danny Caldwell, who has won 12 Thoroughbred owner titles at Remington.

Rated R Superstar has now won 12 of 63 starts for earnings of $1.7 million. Of his wins, seven have come in stakes. He is a son of Kodiak Kowboy and was bred in Kentucky by Thorndale Stable.

Dale Day, the announcer at Remington, said Rated R Superstar became the fourth horse in the 31-year history of the race to win back-to-back runnings of the Governor’s Cup. He said the last horse to win the race in consecutive years was Mr Ross, in 1999 and 2000.

Racing resumes Saturday night at Remington.